Friday Box Office: MALEFICENT Casts a Spell; A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST Misfires

On its first day in theatres, Disney’s Maleficent earned an estimated $24.2 million from 3,948 locations, including $4.2 million from Thursday evening previews. That puts PG-rated fantasy on track for over $60 million through Sunday, which is in line with pre-release expectations. Maleficent pushed last weekend’s X-Men: Days of Future Past into second place. The all-star mutant sequel picked up a few large format theatres formerly held by Godzilla, but was still down 73% on Friday. The X-Men are expected to earn about $30 million in their sophomore frame, bringing their global cume close to $400 million.

Which brings us to A Million Ways to Die in the West. The Seth MacFarlane Western earned an estimated $6.1 million from 3,158 locations on Friday – well below even the lowest projection for the R-rated comedy. Though Westerns have had a hard time breaking through at the box office, Universal hoped that MacFarlane’s success with Ted would be enough to secure at least $25 million for his follow-up’s first weekend. Instead, A Million Ways to Die in the West may bring in under $15 million in its first three days – about what Adam Sandler’s Blended opened with one week ago. Ouch.